Top Law Schools

Long-time follower, first time poster. :-p

Quick question:

I dropped out of high school the summer between my junior and senior years because I faced a tremendous amount of daily tormenting and harassment from the ages of 13-17 for being openly gay.

I had already taken the SATs by this point (somewhere in the low 1400s), and obtained a GED shortly after dropping out. College had always been on the horizon for me, so I began applying to colleges after I got my GED and was accepted to Penn State University.

After undergrad at Penn State, I entered into grad school in Washington, D.C., at American University.

Will any of this make a difference when applying to law schools? Is overcoming something like dropping out of high school for mental health and safety reasons something admissions committees will look upon favorably?

LGBT and grad degree are decent softs/tiebreakers.

What kind of URM? Assuming AA, NA, MA, PR then that'll give you a nice boost.

Bullied out of high school is great content for a PS/DS.

GPA and LSAT still reign supreme.

^ That's a nice way of saying "not much" and real talk - why would the schools give you a substantial boost? Doesn't help their rankings and doesn't make them money. It does however, give you solid material when you write your memoirs.

I don't mean to sound like a dick and I do empathize with whatever trouble you had while growing up.

whitespider wrote:LGBT and grad degree are decent softs/tiebreakers.

What kind of URM? Assuming AA, NA, MA, PR then that'll give you a nice boost.

Bullied out of high school is great content for a PS/DS.

GPA and LSAT still reign supreme.

Part Native American, but certainly not tribal. Have relatives who feel closely connected to their tribal roots.

Undergrad GPA was 3.4 (had a horrible first year when I thought I wanted to be an accountant, and have one F and one C to prove it.)
Grad school GPA was a 3.8, though, I know this means very little in the way of LS admissions.

On LSAT practice tests, I've been consistently in the 171-176 range. Am scheduled to take the LSAT in February.

I definitely want to go to HYS, but would be quite happy with another top 10 school.

Think this is possible?

If you score that high, it's not only possible, but as close to a guarantee as you can get.

Dirigo wrote:If you score that high, it's not only possible, but as close to a guarantee as you can get.

Even with the crappy first year of undergrad dragging my GPA down to a 3.4?

drr5032 wrote:

Dirigo wrote:If you score that high, it's not only possible, but as close to a guarantee as you can get.

Even with the crappy first year of undergrad dragging my GPA down to a 3.4?

Yes.

Why are you waiting until February though? I take it you don't want to apply this cycle...

Dirigo wrote:

drr5032 wrote:

Dirigo wrote:If you score that high, it's not only possible, but as close to a guarantee as you can get.

Even with the crappy first year of undergrad dragging my GPA down to a 3.4?

Yes.

Why are you waiting until February though? I take it you don't want to apply this cycle...

Work. Plain and simple.

I work a full-time job as a multimedia specialist and a part-time job as a newspaper editor, and it would have been too much to squeeze in time to put together an application package.

Dirigo wrote:If you score that high, it's not only possible, but as close to a guarantee as you can get.

I'm not sure I'd go quite that far. If you search the forum, it seems that sometimes NA boosts can vary wildly depending on how tangential your tribal affiliation is.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/urm-applicant-faq.html

whitespider wrote:

Dirigo wrote:If you score that high, it's not only possible, but as close to a guarantee as you can get.

I'm not sure I'd go quite that far. If you search the forum, it seems that sometimes NA boosts can vary wildly depending on how tangential your tribal affiliation is.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/urm-applicant-faq.html

I'm looking at it more from the angle that OP doesn't really need a boost if he achieves an LSAT in the range he has be PT'ing at. He's definitely in at T10 (meaningless distinction).

ETA: OP, come back to us when you have a real LSAT score in March. I hope you are more encouraged from the responses than discouraged. You have the potential for a great cycle if and when you apply.